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Monday, January 14, 2013

Sultan says no one can Islamise Nigeria

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar is reported to have made this comment yesterday...

No one can Islamise Nigeria - Sultan

THE Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Jama’atu Nasril
Islam (JNI), Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, in Kaduna, on Monday, said
nobody could turn Nigeria into an Islamic state.

He also said it was wrong to ascribe anything to the Bayelsa chopper
crash in which General Patrick Azazi, Governor Ibrahim Yakowa and others
were killed, adding that “only God has the powers to give or take
life.”

The Sultan spoke at the meeting of the Northern Governors’ Peace and
Reconciliation Committee, which had in attendance John Cardinal
Onaiyekan, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah, Sheihk Ahmed Lemu, other clerics
and traditional rulers from the North.

According to the Sultan, God had made Nigeria to a multi-religious
and multi-ethnic country and would have made Nigerians to be the same if
he liked, adding, therefore, that no one could turn the country into
an Islamic country as was being expressed.

The Sultan quoted the Qu’ranic verse where it was said that there was
no compulsion in religion, saying that those attacking places of
worship were not good Muslims or Christians.

He, however, said dialogue with any aggrieved party would always
remain the only solution, pointing out that the problem of the North
would remain the problem of the entire country, caling that the north
should not be left with its problems.

He said though they were not given a place in the constitution,
traditional and religious leaders had played their part in the past and
would not give up until the challenges were permanently solved.

The traditional ruler lamented the inability of relevant government
authorities to implement series of recommendations that would have
helped to address the security challenges in the country.

“We wrote a memo of about nine pages or thereabout covering various
issues affecting the country and the North in particular to the then
acting president and now president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan by the Nigeria
Inter Religious Council (NIREC), where we suggested solutions to the
problems,” he said.

In his remarks on the occasion, Cardinal Onaiyekan advocated the need
for stakeholders to address the issue with a view to putting a
permanent end to the crisis.

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